Pets

8:45 am

Sat March 29, 2014

Puppies and Kittens

Puppy and kitten season is almost here, and shelters will be overrun with more cute adoptable pets than there are available homes. You can make a difference!

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2:00

Despite the occasional cold nights, the weather has warmed up recently, and outdoor activity is really picking up. Tulip and pear trees have bloomed. All sorts of plants are budding out and beginning to bloom. It’s a time of year when a lot of us enjoy getting together outside. Unfortunately that includes our pets.

This is the time when so many unneutered and unspayed pets breed, which means that in about eight or nine weeks we will again have countless litters of puppies and kittens.

It doesn’t matter where you live – if you can hear my voice, your community probably has a problem with pet overpopulation. Animal shelters across the Southeast must euthanize THOUSANDS of dogs, cats, puppies and kittens every Spring, because there just are not enough homes for all the litters that are born.

The answer – the only answer – is for pet owners to have their dogs and cats surgically altered so they cannot reproduce.

Although some veterinarians will neuter or spay an animal as early as three months of age, most want to wait until the animal reaches maturity, usually when the animal is about six months old.

When you call your vet, ask for an appointment on a Friday, so that someone might be home while your pet recuperates over the weekend. If your vet prefers to keep pets overnight after surgery, you may want to schedule it for Thursday instead.

Spaying and neutering pets makes them healthier by reducing the risk of certain types of cancer. It reduces their tendencies to roam, and get into fights. It makes them more even-tempered, more affectionate – better companions. And it means that fewer pets will lose their lives in animal shelters. If you think that it won’t hurt to let your pet have just one litter, remember that each pet euthanized in a shelter came from just one litter, that each one had the potential to be a great pet – it just never had the chance.

YOU can make a difference in the epidemic of pet overpopulation by neutering and spaying – when you’re speaking of your pet.